SUSTAINABLE FOOD ECONOMIES RESEARCH GROUP

Our key points of interest are the European food system – Resilience, sustainability and vulnerability – Agriculture – Food policies and Transition towards a more sustainable economy.

SFERE is a research team that deals with the sustainability of the food chain. We aim to obtain insights into global food demand and food production, including challenges and opportunities within the food system. We thereby focus on the vulnerability and resilience of European food systems in the context of socio-economic, behavioural, technological, institutional and agro-ecological change. We also study practices and policies that support the sustainability of primary producers taking into account complex policy requirements, market imperfections and globalization.

Our point of departure is Europe and Flanders, although we recognize the need to look beyond European borders when analysing food chains.
Interaction and communication with other researchers as well as with stakeholders outside the academic world is inherent to our research approach.

BLOG SFERE TEAM

Last week was the sustainability week, which did not pass silently at KU Leuven. Many initiatives have been undertaken, among which also the foodprint debate. The Ecoteam of the Social Science Department invited some experts on food and agriculture. Vice Rector Gerard Govers opened the evening, pointing on the importance of a foodprint debate during a sustainability week. Tessa Avermaete gave an overview of key points for the debate. Why do we focus on agriculture? What is sustainable farming? Why do we so often bring meat to the discussion table when talking about sustainable food systems? And, can we [...]